MarAd completes Suisun Bay ship scrapping ahead of schedule

The U.S. Maritime Administration beat its target date of Sept. 30 to remove 57 obsolete ships from its reserve fleet holding area in Suisan Bay, Calif.    The U.S. Maritime Administration has beaten its target date of Sept. 30 to remove 57 obsolete ships from its reserve fleet holding area in Suisan Bay, Calif., the administration said in a statement Thursday.
   The last of the ships scheduled for scrapping, the Cape Borda, was hauled away.
   “There is perhaps no greater symbol of the maritime industry’s environmental progress than what has been accomplished here,” said Joel Szabat, MarAd’s executive director. “Suisun Bay will stand as a great example of what can be accomplished working together and sticking to a plan.”
   In 2009, MarAd entered an agreement with local officials and environmental groups to hasten disposal of 57 obsolete vessels in its Suisan Bay reserve fleet. In the first three years of the agreement alone, 36 vessels were towed away from Suisun Bay to U.S. scrapyards, eight vessels more than required.
   MarAd noted that 27 vessels from the Suisan Bay fleet were sold for recycling, resulting in receipts totaling about $30 million, of which $7.5 million were spent on facilities at maritime academies and $3.75 million was provided to the National Park Service to fund the Maritime Heritage Grant Program.
   The Cape Borda was originally built as the SS Howell Lykes in 1967 and operated two decades in commercial service before being acquired by the U.S. government for MarAd’s Ready Reserve Force in 1985. The vessel received a reduced operating status and was moved to Suisan Bay in 2003. It was downgraded to obsolete status in July 2006.
   In addition to Suisan Bay, MarAd maintains reserve fleet sites in the James River in Virginia and Beaumont, Texas. When ships become obsolete, MarAd arranges for their disposal at qualified domestic ship-scrapping yards.